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Quantity, not Quality!

So, I’ve been endeavoring to write better. Here’s the thing with writing better: you need to produce enough material that you’re able to edit it. The first draft for most people is generally pretty crappy; the idea is to find the jewels, polish them up so they shine, and get rid of the rest. To do that, however, you have to produce enough that at least some good stuff is found!

I’ve decided it’s past time I aim to produce more. On an average week, I figured I was writing at best 4,000 words of non-work related material. I remember when I was originally working on my first novel (in 2007), I could pound out ten pages in about an hour. Now, that took a lot of work, and by that point I knew not only my characters but where the plot was leading them. These days I’m generally working on shorter-end material, so I have a far less chance of getting to know my characters. Still, I should be able to do better than 4k!

So, last week I set a goal of 7k words in a week. I failed miserably. My youngest son (about six months old) decided it would be a delightful time to stop sleeping. Also, my day job as a pastor ratcheted up the emotional exhaustion level. It’s hard to write anything — even crap — when your own tank is empty.

This week I’m doing much better. I’m likely to still fall short of my goal, but by only a few hundred words, I’m guessing.

If you’re trying to write better, why not ditch the idea that less is more — until you come to the editing phase? Just pound the keyboard and get some stuff out there. You can always edit later — and you better edit later! But for the short term, just get some stuff on the paper!

Published by Jon

I'm a pastor in Wisconsin. Constantly writing, whether it be fiction or sermons or anything in between. Husband and father. Over all this, Christian, willing and joyful servant to good master Jesus.
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